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Angels of Light | Preview
THE NEW YORKER | DAN KAUFMAN
Live at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC.
A rare appearance by the enchanting home-town quartet Angels of Light. The band's leader Michael Gira has for twenty years pushed fiercely (sometimes violently) against lyrical and musical boundaries. In the early eighties he founded the legendary New York nihilists Swans and took that band on an unexpected arc from primal songs with sadomasochistic overtones to lush and beautiful soaring strings and haunting melodies. The Angels of Light continue the journey, going ever deeper into a world of rich harmony. It's four members play a plethora of instruments, including hammer dulcimer, piano, and autoharp, all of which evoke the spirit of old-time country music from the Carter Family era. The lyrics, however, are unwavering -often dark and occasionally self-lacerating, they give the music a razorlike edge.